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 IMPAC T January 2006 / Vol 40 • No 1
CONTENTS
EDITORIAL
Moral Ascendancy ........................................................ 25
COVER STORY
Peace in a Divided World ........................................... 16
ARTICLES
Globalization and its Impact on Catholic Higher
Education .......................................................................... 4
The Ateneo Center for Educational Development
(ACED) ............................................................................... 8
Happy and New? Think Again ................................. 12
The Persistency of Insurgency in the Philippines . 14
Sex and Gender .............................................................. 22
STATEMENTS
In Truth, Peace: A New Year’s Message ............... 26
New Year’s Message .................................................... 27
DEPARTMENTS
Quote in the Act .............................................................. 2
CINEMA Review ......................................................... 23
Quotes in Quiz .............................................................. 23
From the Blogs ............................................................... 24
From the Inbox .............................................................. 28
Vanilla Bytes ................................................................. 29
News Briefs ...................................................................... 30
Having traveled to another land at the opening
of this year, say, Hong Kong which is how far an
'expiring miles' plane ticket could go, one couldn’t
help but make comparisons as a better option than
bewail like it was by the rivers of Babylon over the
misfortunes that has befallen to a dear homeland the
year past.
Hong Kong’s subway may be the best so far in
the whole world today—far better than the cavern-
ous ones in New York or the rough rails of France.
In this Asian neighbor, there is work and opportuni-
ties for a descent living swarm aplenty. Government
projects flow in abundance and are delivered maybe
as fast as budgets would magically disappear in the
Philippines without qualms or squalor. And there is
no problem with their political leaders who have
never been accused, at least of late, of stealing or
cheating or deceiving the populace.
But why the chasm of disparity? People in this
foreign land don’t even have the penchant of going
to mass on Sundays. Or attending Santo Niño
processions, kidded my companion albeit with a
tinge of sarcasm. They don’t have the seven sacra-
ments and the Ten Commandments like we do. And
they don’t have a president who reportedly talks
directly with God, with much better facility than an
Archbishop in the North does or does not.
There should be a hell of a problem somewhere.
Impact opens the year with a story on the issue
of peace—an issue that is as old as mankind itself.
To paraphrase rather non-exegetically the Letter of
Paul to the Romans, mankind has been groaning for
the coming of peace which, for Christians, is the
coming of the Christ and the consequent transfor-
mation of realities into a new heaven and a new
earth.
But while founders of world religions preach
about the coming of peace through an inner trans-
formation that leads to cosmic tranquility, world
leaders, as history bears, do not buy the theological
route to global harmony. For, simply put, politics—
being an exercise of power—and sustainable peace
may not be complementary companions at all. Which
is probably the reason why, the acquisition of nuclear
arsenal and gadgets of strategy and war soar in
annual budgets of governments dwarfing whatever
budgetary allocations there are that may promote
understanding and peace among nations. Read on.
Volume 40 • Number 1 3
 A R
by Leonardo Z. Legaspi, OP, DD
Nations of Economic
Globalization
G
lobalization has become a sort of
fashionable buzz-word. It is quite
often said but seldom with the same
meaning. It is in fact one of those far-reaching
concepts which are used by different people
to explain facts which are of a completely
different nature. Even when qualified as
“economic”, globalization can still be associ-
ated with a variety of phenomena.
The first notion of economic global-
ization is that of an ever-growing expan-
sion of transborder financial flows and
their impact upon the monetary and ex-
change policies of national economies.
The effects of the financial dimension of
globalization are somewhat disputed. If
the mobility of capital that flows across
borders can be seen as an efficient way to
allocate resources world-wide and to chan-
nel them to developing countries, their
volatility and their possible use for specu-
lative attacks against currencies are
thought to pose new threats to the eco-
nomic stability of countries. In other words,
the virtually free movement of huge capital
flows creates both opportunities and risks.
Another notion is the globalization of
production and the ensuing expansion of
world trade flows. The domestic contents
of most goods have diminished, and inter-
mediate production stages now take place
in different countries. Final products—
specifically technology intensive ones—
can hardly be considered to be full made in
a given country. This is the result of the
interplay of several new trends, including
reduction in the costs of the mobility of
production factors and the economies of
scale required by increasingly sophisti-
cated production processes.
International trade of intermediate
goods is conducted primarily among in-
dustrial units of the same company. Cor-
porations frequently structure their activi-
ties to fit marketing and production strat-
egies designed to enhance their global or
regional competitive position. Countries
are selected for investment by those com-
panies on the basis of the overall advan-
tages they present. This has led to in-
creased competition for foreign invest-
ment among countries, particularly devel-
oping ones. As opposed to the sixties and
even the seventies, when controls and
restrictions were deemed necessary to
discipline the operations by transnationals
in their markets, developing countries have
4 IMPACT • January 2006
T I C L E S
been reformulating their trade and eco-
nomic policies, in part to offer an attractive
domestic environment for foreign invest-
ment, which is needed to complement their
generally insufficient rate of domestic sav-
ings.
Another dimension of economic glo-
balization is thus a growing uniformity in
the institutional and regulatory framework
in all countries. For the globalization of
production to take place, rules in different
countries need to be made similar, so that
no artificial advantage prevails in any of
them. Examples of these rules are the
introduction of the World Trade Organiza-
tion (WTO) of international standards for
intellectual property rights and trade re-
lated aspects of investment measures.
Matters that were once considered to fall
primarily within the domestic jurisdiction
of each State are now subject to multilat-
eral disciplines. Naturally, there are limits
to such uniformity due to national differ-
ences. The interplay of global trends
toward uniformity and national identities
is a complex one.
Finally, economic globalization is
linked to a revolution in production pat-
terns leading to a significant shift in the
comparative advantages of nations. The
competitive position of a country relative
to others is determined more and more by
the quality of its human resources, by
knowledge, by science and technology
applied to production methods. Abun-
dant labor and raw materials are less and
less a comparative advantage, to the ex-
tent that they represent a diminishing share
of the value added in virtually all products.
This irreversible trend makes it unlikely for
countries in the South to succeed solely
on relatively cheap labor and on natural
resources.
The Consequences of Economic
Globalization
The Changing Role of the State
Hand in hand with economic global-
ization goes a change in the role of the
State.
Globalization means that external vari-
ables have an increased bearing on the
domestic agenda, narrowing the scope for
national choices. Requirements for exter-
nal competitiveness have led to greater
homogeneity of the institutional and regu-
latory frameworks of States and these re-
quirements have left less room for widely-
differentiated national strategies with re-
gard to labor and macro-economic policy.
Fiscal balance, for instance, has become a
new dogma. The Maastricht Treaty of the
European Union, which sets limits within
the budget deficit of its members, has to be
maintained.
Both international public opinion and
market behavios have also come to play a
role in redefining the range of possible
actions by States. Information flows freely
and rapidly. If, for example, the news is
disclosed that any particular country is
having difficulties controlling its budget
deficit or is going to hike its interests rates,
world financial markets make decisions
based on that information, which will have
an impact on the country concerned. Coun-
tries, their leaders and the policies they are
pursuing are under the close scrutiny of
the world public opinion. Any misdeed or
step judged by these immaterial entities to
be in the wrong direction may exact penal-
ties. Conversely, developments or deci-
sions construed to be positive are re-
warded. International public opinion and,
above all, markets tend to be conservative,
to follow certain orthodoxy in economic
matters. They establish a pattern of eco-
nomic conduct which admits little varia-
tion in a world of immense variety of na-
tional realities. The complex process of
adjustment must not ignore such diver-
sity. This complex process requires a
change of attitude and a determination to
fight against vested interests in the public
sector. But there is no alternative.
Some Public Implications of Economic
Globalization
One may have the impression that the
globalization process responds only to
market forces. From the perspective of
both the allocation of financial resources
and decisions concerning productive in-
vestments, the market is really a decisive
factor. But we should avoid the mistake of
drawing, from this fact, misleading conclu-
sions.
The first such misleading conclusions
would be to consider globalization as the
result of market forces alone. This is not
true. The framework within which the
market operates is politically defined. The
power game among nations is not absent.
Neither is the possibility of economic co-
operation among States. Foreign trade
negotiations are still conducted through
dialogue among States, in particular those
concerning the definition of the rules in
Globalization and its
Impact on Catholic
Higher Education
First of a series

(This series is a reprint with permission from a recent book edited by Msgr. Jose R. Rojas entitled Light to All )

Volume 40 • Number 1 5
 G l o b a l i z a t i o n
which competition occurs. Economic clout
is a key factor in these negotiations, as well
as in the settlement of bilateral trade dis-
putes. In some cases, economic powers
invoke their influence to circumvent the
very multilateral disciplines they them-
selves have proposed. Subsidies in agri-
culture clearly illustrate this trend. The
recent movements towards the creation of
schemes of regional integration, which are
characteristics of the nineties, are also
initiatives with which governments have
tried to influence the direction of eco-
nomic globalization.
The second dangerous conclusion
would be to transform the market into a
form of ideology, according to which ev-
erything that falls into line with market
forces is good, positive and brings devel-
opment, whereas every political decision
meant to regular competition forces is
viewed as negative.
It is precisely the recognition that
there are limits to the market that enables
us, developing countries, to act politically
in defense of our national interests. But
the forms of such action, of regulating the
globalization process, vary among differ-
ent developing countries. Whether or not
we want it, economic globalization is a new
international order. We must accept this
with a sense of realism lest our actions be
devoid of any effective impact. This does
not imply political inertia, but a whole new
perspective of how to act on the interna-
tional stage.
From Miracle to Stricken
Economies
The issue of globalization is crucial in
this part of the world. In East Asia and
Southeast Asia, the one-time miracle
economies are struggling today to stop
the destruction, which swept through their
societies in a matter of months the impres-
sive growth they accomplished through
many years of hard work. Policymakers
and economists from Japan to India are
pointing to globalization as a threat to
national well-being, pointing to open bor-
ders as formidable doors beyond their
control to stem the free flow of finance,
business, trade, ideas and cultural values
from the North to the South, from the
capitalist societies to the poor economies,
from the industrialized and stable coun-
tries to the agriculture-based and unstable
economies.
Before the crisis, many Asian govern-
ments welcomed the forces of globaliza-
tion, as market liberalization and broader
6 IMPACT • January 2006
a n d i t s I m p a c t
integration of Asian economies to the Asian interests and downgrade American
global market spurred rapid growth across influence in the South.
Asia. Rising living standards made people, The West must recognize the legiti-
especially the local elite and upper middle macy of Asian concern over eroding val-
class families, willing to tolerate govern- ues and social cohesion. Internal frag-
ments which were authoritarian, which mentation is an authentic threat in the
were hiding behind public relations slo- multi-ethnic state that characterizes much
gans such as performance-based legiti- of Asia. In turn, Asia could recognize that
macy, guided democracy, constitutional Western countries have also been buf-
authoritarianism, or activist government, feted by globalization and that managing
in countries such as South Korea, Indone- its challenges will be a central item on the
sia and China, where growing prosperity policy agenda of Washington, London,
and political repression went hand in hand. Paris and Bonn long into the 21st century.
The feeling was that behind the Asian This Asian experience of globaliza-
embrace of globalization, economics could tion defines the challenge of globalization
be separated from politics. It was a west- in this part of the world: to make the
ern notion, which imposed cultural norms transition from recognizing the existence
in their Asian clients. That assumption, of global problems to devising concrete
needs to say, was and has always been in instruments and establishing effective
doubt. Politics always goes with busi- mobilization for change among Asian
ness, government, military, church and countries.
diplomacy in Asia. Failure to observe this It is in this context that I see the
truth now have resulted in millions thrown challenge to Asian universities and to
out from work in Thailand, Indonesia, Catholic universities. They are the high-
South Korea, Russia; and even Japan and est formalized institutions of learning,
Hong Kong have suffered from the Asian research, instruction, extension services
financial crisis. Governments have been and social critique. They have teams of
forced to provide more resources to com- professors, instructors and research
pensate the victims of global economics schooled in different disciplines and
and financial forces. branches of knowledge. In Asia, during
It has become clear that embracing this critical period in its history, the uni-
globalization demands political, social,
cultural costs. Transparency, account-
ability and the rule of law are necessary for
global economy—that is, the guidance of
globalists from the West. Given Asia’s
background, these globalists are suspects
and less welcomed, despite the rush to
embrace them by Asia’s elite sectors. Some
Asian leaders therefore have denounced
globalization as a new form of western
imperialism. Malaysian Prime Minister
Mahatir bin Mohammed has accused the
West of using financial markets to bring
Asia to its knee. Similar sentiments have
been voiced by officials and intellectuals
of China, Indonesia, India and Japan. Even
Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew has been shak-
ing his head in pointing out that Asia is
suffering such devastation without being
responsible for the financial crisis directly.
However, no Asian country appear
likely to reverse course and reject global-
ization. For Asians, the North Korean and
Burmese models are viable alternatives to
the global economy. Governments of
South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and the
Philippines have welcomed the opportu-
nity for reform. But if the current signs of
recovery in Asia fail to live up to expecta-
tions, a lasting backlash could develop
against the West. It could further harm
o n C a t h o l i c
versities can contribute to make the tran-
sition successful. Unfortunately, taking
the forefront in this issue are the research
think tanks, government and international
foundations—not universities, not
Catholic universities, particularly our
Catholic universities—still steep in the
traditional arts and sciences, are unable
to move into new areas of intellectual
challenge and to engage in public debate
and scrutiny.
So far removed are the universities
and academics that they themselves are
not called in to help sharpen the global-
ization issues or to identify alternative
approaches or propose solutions benefi-
cial to the welfare of the poor and salaried
middle class. The elite, who comprise
these discussants are not concerned
about whether their rhetoric will boomer-
ang back to their face and plunge them
down to the problems with which the
poor have to grapple with. They are
above the negative impacts of these in-
terventions and are equipped with re-
sources to move above and beyond these
problems. Why this palpable absence in
the public discourse on globalization?
There are several reasons or causes. Let
us go over them briefly.
assist our counties make the transition the
universities in Asia must seriously look
into the following:
H i g h e r
1. Universities have failed to shift
their focus of attention and energy
from the traditional actors of the
institution itself, its faculty and
experts, and its own primary
concerns, to the more significant
actors today of students, employers
and society in general. By being
so inward-looking, universities
have missed out in addressing the
concerns of their most important
stakeholders—the students and
society.
2. Universities have not become
sufficiently aware of the rise of the
alternative institutions which
provide learning, skills, knowl-
edge, and non-formal education
and training programs for a wide
range of clientele—training
institutions by private business,
research centers of government
agencies, development agencies of
multinational corporations,
foundations, etc. These alternative
agencies tend to become more cost-
effective, market-oriented, flexible
and responsive to changing forces
in the external environment.
3. These alternative learning and
education/training institutions
have incorporated the latest
communications media, informa-
tion technology, and skilled
resource persons in their delivery
systems, making the age-old
lecture room, blackboard and
chalk, and lecture methodologies
appear so old, decrepit, ineffective,
and out-of-date.
4. They are also one with the
contemporary and future world,
attuned to the prevailing questions
and probities which touch on the
future of mankind and this endan-
gered planet.
To be able to truly and effectively
1. Instruction and programs of
studies. These are new curricula
or modern interventions based on
market demand studies which can
incorporate current events into a
wide variety of programs such as
liberal arts, economics, history,
social science, political science,
etc. Too often, the curricula
contents were designated a decade
ago, which hardly any updating;
more with no reference to the
issues which deeply intrude into
people’s lives. The failure of
universities to move their studies
E d u c a t i o n
from traditional topics to contem-
porary issues is a common occur-
rence further leaving the universi-
ties behind other alternative
institutions emerging to respond to
these new phenomena.
2. Open debates and topics. In the
hundreds of seminars, workshops,
and conferences conducted by
universities every year, involving
in-house faculty and professors or
invited resource persons from
industry, science, government, the
community, international scholars,
there is a consistent lack of focus
on in-depth movements and
developments which are the
burning topics occupying the
biggest, most powerful, and often
hidden or covert institutions of the
world.
3. Research investigations. There is a
wide dearth of lack of concern or
investigations into these topics by
the different research institutes or
bodies of universities that they
virtually get buried in the forgot-
ten inventory of should be universi-
ties researches.
4. Extension services. In their
extracurricular activities, universi-
ties fail to bring into their ambit of
operations the type and kind of
community services which would
expose the general public to the
complex and impactful programs
and policies of the world’s most
powerful institutions and agencies.
Particular Implications for
Catholic Institutions of Higher
Learning
The issues of globalization impose on
our institutions of higher learning addi-
tional challenges. Globalization is a his-
torical dynamics that embraces not only
the realm of economics but also that of
science, history, culture, and religion. It
calls for a greater integration and confor-
mity on the part of individual and groups
as necessary for survival in human soci-
ety. Although some thinkers suggest that
it can remedy the world’s development
problems, its future is frightening in view
of its inherent contradictions that are ethi-
cally unsound and economically inappro-
priate in the struggle for just, sustainable,
and participatory societies.
Therefore our Catholic Universities
should bring into the public debate on
globalization our Social Teachings, the
Catholic ethics vis-à-vis globalization. I
Volume 40 • Number 1 7
 A R T I C L E S

T
he Ateneo Center for Educational advantage, our educational institutions University. Since 1997, ACED has trained
Development (ACED) was estab- are expected to achieve these twin goals: a total of 1,700 public school teachers in
lished by the Ateneo de Manila Uni- Raise our national average in comparison about 14 DepEd divisions in Metro Ma-
versity in 1997 in response to the call of to other countries on the one hand and, nila, Laguna, Pampanga, Aklan,
“closing the gaps” – the gap between our reduce the lower average variation below Kabankalan City (Negros Occ.) and Davao
country and our Asian neighbors, and at that national average on the other hand. City.
the same time the gap between Ateneo and While the policy of universal public edu- The Center recently conducted an
the rest of the country. In a larger vision, cation has its merits, there is no denying impact assessment of the PSTTP through
as a Christian Catholic University, closing that this has stressed the quality of our a special project called Baliktanaw
this gap means continuing Jesus’ mission educational system near its limits. Teachers’ Congress, Revisiting the
to create a community, within our families, ACED-PSTTP on February 20, 2004. This
within our country and with our neigh- The ACED in Action: provided ACED an opportunity to ask
bors, to be able to share and care for one past trainees of the teacher training pro-
another, closing the gap between God and As a response, the ACED was estab- gram of specific improvements in their
us. lished to provide a systematic, high impact teaching career and classroom manage-
Focusing on the public educational and visible program of support for public ment styles. The survey revealed that on
system where more than 90% of our Fili- school systems in the Philippines. Specifi- professional development, majority of
pino children are enrolled, ACED became cally, the Center focuses it efforts in four teachers were (1) asked to teach a higher
an important instrument of the university major areas of educational development: section, (2) given additional teaching
in utilizing its resources to reach out to (1) Teacher Training and Development, (2) load and (3) given supervisory work af-
public schools, as a commitment to its Management Development for Schools, ter they have participated in the ACED
mission—an Ateneo that is not simply (3) Research & Development, and (4) Cur- program.
involved in the formation of individuals riculum, Textbooks and Instructional Ma- In terms of classroom management,
who will be leaders in bringing about de- terials Development. teachers were able to (1) promote coop-
velopment and change in the erative learning among their
country but as an institution students; (2) construct quiz-
playing a role in institutional zes/tasks that promote criti-
change and development, "We strive to give them the best cal thinking; (3) write lesson
particularly in the education
sector.
programs run by our best people. plans that are more appropri-
ate; (4) use other resources
In a larger perspective, But we also acknowledge that even (print/non-print) to enrich
ACED responds to the re- with the best program in mind, we learning; (5) develop inno-
newed call to involve pri- vative instructional tech-
vate entities in improving ca- must remain sensitive to the unique nologies; and (6) conduct
pacities of public schools, conditions of the public schools." new/alternative class activi-
especially during a time of ties and instructional tech-
political and economic cri- nologies.
sis: real per-capita spending
on basic public education
Principal Empowerment Program
continues to lose impact as population The Public School Teacher Training
grows and teaching productivity has re- Program (PSTTP) Among the new programs of ACED is
mained low as evidenced in the declining Its flagship program, the ACED Pub- the Leadership Program for public elemen-
achievement levels of Philippine public lic School Teacher Training Program tary and secondary school principals.
schools vis-à-vis their Asian counterparts (PSTTP), provides public school teachers ACED realized that the development and
in Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. with opportunities to improve their con- training of public school heads as organi-
International standardized tests like tent development and instructional skills. zational professionals is as important as
TIMSS (Trends in International Mathemat- This gives participants a stronger sense of its PSTTP, as this addresses the problem
ics and Science Study), which shows that proper instruction and classroom man- of managing scarce school resources. This
we are ranked 3rd from the bottom, have agement, in order to create a better learn- program is a whole year program that kicks-
made the obvious more threatening: our ing environment. A team of faculty from off with a three-day and two-night live-in
educational system is gradually falling the Loyola Schools, Grade School and colloquium that will provide a venue for
apart. These findings are consistent even High School develops the modules and conversations on the important aspects of
with our national exams, revealing that conduct the classes every Saturday morn- their roles, common concerns and chal-
only half of our students in the public ing at the Ateneo campus for a total of 80 lenges as school heads.
school have mastery of the core subjects hours (about 20 consecutive half-day ses- This activity also hopes to prepare
in our curriculum (52 percent in Elemen- sions spread out from July to February of them in the succeeding academic mod-
tary, NEAT 2001; 53 percent in Secondary, the school year). Public elementary and ules/sessions in the school year by
NSAT, 2001). secondary school teachers are trained in strengthening their competencies, improv-
These macro problems have a large the areas of English, Mathematics, Sci- ing their beliefs and attitudes, and in the
implication for us as a Developing state. ence and Information Technology. At the process, increasing their effectiveness;
Our main resource as a nation remains in end of the training, participants receive a after which eight academic modules are
our skilled labor. For us to sustain this Certificate from the Ateneo de Manila designed based on the pressing problems

8 IMPACT • January 2006

Fr. Dan McNamara, S.J. of Ateneo de Manila
University’s Physics Department
demonstrates a physics concept during
ACED’s Supervisor’s Training Seminar for
public schools.
The Ateneo Center for
Educational Development
(ACED):
The Ateneo de Manila University’s Response to the Call for
National Development through Public Education
by Anne Lan H. Kagahastian-Candelaria
and issues raised during the colloquium.
These will then be delivered by a team
of administrators and faculty from the Grade
School, High School and the Education
Department of the Loyola Schools begin-
ning August through February. They are
partnered with respected practitioners from
the public education sectors in both the
development and delivery of the modules.
School-Community Development
Framework
During the course of ACED’s dy-
namic engagement with public schools
and other major sectors involved in public
education, it realized that macro-level in-
volvement should be complemented with
micro-level initiatives so that the target
beneficiaries—the pupils in the public
school—can fully experience the impact
of such interventions. Thus, from May
2001 to June 2004, ACED managed a spe-
cial project launched by the Ateneo de
Manila University in partnership with Mr.
Washington Sycip and Mr. Alfredo Velayo
with an immediate goal of building commit-
ment among the school leadership and
school community, the Local School
Boards and the business and civic groups.
Dubbed, Project SSPEEd (Sectoral Sup-
port for Public Elementary Education), the
project provided ACED with significant
lessons and insights on how it can fuse
macro-level interventions and micro-level
involvement. Furthermore, SSPEEd pro-
vided a framework on how institutions can
assist the public schools and create im-
pact in the surrounding urban poor com-
munities as well.
At this juncture, the ACED finds ripe
opportunities to link its more institutional-
ized networks and programs with a more
grassroots approach towards addressing
sustainability, effectivity and efficiency.
Thus, ACED has since then moved into its
other educational development areas.
Specifically, ACED remains an active
catalyst in the public schools and commu-
Volume 40 • Number 1 9
 A t e n e o
Student of Payatas-B Elementary School doing remedial work in Mathematics.
nity as it has committed to support to the
following public elementary schools:
Payatas B Annex Elementary School
Located in Barangay Payatas Trese,
Payatas B Annex Elementary School has a
population of about 820 pupils. Although
the latter has had a hundred percent
completion and graduation rate since it
was established, it is ironic that it has dealt
perennially with non-readers at all levels.
The school started in 2001 with 81 non-
readers that ranged from 35 in Grade one to
six. With the constant influx of pupils
every year, the school currently has 199
non-readers, majority of which are found
in the first grade.
Payatas C (Madja-as) Elementary School
The school is one of the most de-
pressed urban poor areas in Quezon City.
Although the school was established in
1983 through community bayanihan ef-
forts, it has been deprived of infrastructural
improvements, particularly new school
buildings, since the school lot is not titled
to the school or to the government.
Lupang Pangako Elementary School
The school is located about a hun-
dred meters from the dumpsite in Payatas,
Quezon City. Expectedly, majority of its
60,000 residents are informal settlers and
relocates, around 15% of whom survive by
garbage scavenging. Although such cir-
10 IMPACT • January 2006
C e n t e r
cumstance clearly puts the school in a
clear disadvantage, the school leadership
has succeeded in increasing the number of
classrooms and computers.
Bagong Silangan Elementary School
This school is in Barangay Bagong
Silangan, an urban poor community adja-
cent to Payatas, not far from the Batasan
Complex that houses the House of Repre-
sentatives. Bagong Silangan Elementary
School has a population of about 6,000
pupils including more than 200
preschoolers. Even with infrastructural
improvements and the construction of two
three-storey buildings over the past two
years, overcrowding remains to be a prob-
lem.
This intimate partnership with the
schools allows ACED to understand in-
depth the situation being faced by the
public education sector as well as try to
adopt and implement intervention pro-
grams that will help the school as an
“institution” (or a system). This under-
taking is rooted in the objective of prepar-
ing the school and community initiate
and manage future systems and programs
for the improvement of the whole school
in the areas of infrastructure, human re-
source development, networking, and
professional management of school and
its relations with the community. This
endeavor involves three stages: (1)
School-based Research, (2) Strategic Plan-
f o r E d u
ning with the school and community and
(3) Capability-building training/programs
that will support the implementation of
the school plans. ACED firmly supports
the precept that schools and community
should establish a good communication
system between one another to help iden-
tify problems as well as solutions con-
cerning their children’s education and
future.
For this school year, ACED has al-
ready organized two school-based strate-
gic planning workshops at the Ateneo on
May 6-8, 2005 for Bagong Silangan El-
ementary School and Lupang Pangako
Elementary School and on May 26-28, 2005
for Payatas B Annex Elementary School
and Payatas C Elementary School.
Facilitated by seasoned community
developers, the workshops helped repre-
sentatives of the school and community-
teachers, principals, parents, pupils,
barangay and LGU officials identify prob-
lems and construct feasible plans for three
years. Each completed school plan be-
comes ACED’s basis for crafting capabil-
ity-building programs in partnership with
various institutions within and without
the University.
Research and Development
Grounding on all these work, ACED
believes that it should engage itself in
research initiatives that will help other
institutions set-up their own programs for
the public education sector. Its recent
research endeavor, entitled “The Local
School Board: Managing Local Reforms in
Education” takes a look at four cases of
Local School Boards that have managed,
developed and sustained programs that
uplifted the quality of public education in
their localities. The study analyzes impor-
tant issues in reforming public education
and good governance such as the role of
leadership in reform, approaches to a more
participatory process of reform, and trans-
parency and accountability in resource
mobilization, generation and utilization.
The study was collaboration between
ACED, Ateneo School of Government,
Ateneo de Manila Political Science De-
partment and Synergeia Foundation. It is
funded by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
Foundation through the Ateneo Center
for Social Policy.
The ADMU Soul: We Believe
In all of ACED’s undertakings,
whether in its Teacher Training Program,
u c a t i o n a l
Leadership Program or its schools-and-
community-based work, it seeks the sup-
port of all stakeholders in public educa-
tion. This call of unity, to come together
as one big community, to address the
problems of public education has en-
abled ACED and the University to extend
its resources to more teachers, principals
and schools. Indeed, the burden be-
comes light if everyone helps carry the
basket.
The private sector and civic groups,
over the years, have been generous part-
ners to both the ACED’s training pro-
grams as well as some school-based
projects. The local governments through
its Local School Board readily allocates
counterpart funding in every program
that their teachers, principals and schools
participate in. Funding support also
comes from various government offi-
cials ranging from Congressmen to City
Councilors. Civil society groups, local
NGOs, local neighborhood groups,
PTCA (Parent Teacher Community As-
sociations) also participate in the plan-
ning and implementation of the school-
based projects.
Internally, the various units in the
Ateneo de Manila University supported
the ACED programs in many touching
ways. Faculty and administrators will-
ingly devote their Saturdays to train pub-
lic school teachers and principals despite
their full academic load from Monday to
Friday. The University allocates an
Dr. Arsenio Honrejas, Payatas-C Elementary School Principal, with PCTA officers and teachers during ACED’s
School/Community-based Planning Workshop.
D e v e l o p m e n t
amount equivalent to a 50% tuition dis-
count for public school teachers currently
attending the ACED programs each year
for the last 7 years. And even if now that
units are no longer required, the Univer-
sity has graciously offered discounts for
the use of facilities, classrooms, library,
and other resources to all ACED partici-
pants for the duration of their program.
Students are also encouraged to reach out
to the public schools. In fact on various
occasions, ACED has conducted advo-
cacy sessions for both students and fac-
ulty of the University concerning the cri-
sis being faced by the public schools
today.
Lessons Learned and the Road
Ahead
There is one big lesson to be learned
in the ACED experience of bringing forth
social development through addressing
the needs of public education, that is—
TRUST. We, as a nation, should learn how
to trust each other in critical and challeng-
ing times. As an institution, ACED main-
tains a strong working relationship be-
tween the DepEd, the various government
officials, private sector, civil society be-
cause it has been operating on a relation-
ship grounded on the credibility and trust-
worthiness of the Ateneo. We strive to
give them the best programs run by our
best people. But we also acknowledge
that even with the best program in mind,
we must remain sensitive to the unique
conditions of the public schools. We
consult with our best people, but we also
consult with people who know what is
suited and needed by the public schools—
the public school themselves.
For the past 8 years, ACED has en-
gaged itself in various programs that helped
shape the lives of children, teachers, school
heads, and parents by showing them that
if we just work together and trust one
another, the crisis can be contained and
eventually solved. However, the most
valuable realization derived from this ex-
perience is that, in the University’s at-
tempt to heed the call to “close the gaps”
between our country and our neighbors
and between Ateneo and the rest of the
public schools in the country, we have
actually closed another kind of gap that is
of equal, if not of more, importance as
well—closing the gap between ourselves.
As a big university, the Ateneo has nu-
merous academic units as well as non-
academic offices catering to thousand of
students from the Grade School, High
School, Loyola Schools and the Profes-
sional Schools. Finding a common direc-
tion in fulfilling that mission of serving
others through public educational devel-
opment programs has transformed the
Ateneo from a rigid academic institution
into a community of people who is commit-
ted in transforming this nation into some-
thing great.
The challenge now is to multiply
these programs into the various prov-
inces in order to hasten public educa-
tional reforms that will help rebuild our
country. ACED receives a lot of request
to conduct programs and similar endeav-
ors in the provinces. Since ACED coor-
dinates and utilizes only existing re-
sources and efforts of the university, it
can only answer certain requests if there
are available resources at that time. Thus,
ACED calls on other academic institu-
tions to consider offering educational
development programs to help uplift the
quality of public education towards a
faster recovery of our nation. After all,
our nation can become great again if we all
work towards improving our educational
system—hopefully, for them not to com-
mit the same mistakes we made. I
(Anne Lan H. Kagahastian-Candelaria is currently the
Managing Director of the Ateneo Center for Educational
Development or ACED. She also teaches
Fundamentals of Public Management, Current Issues
in Philippine Politics and Governance, and Introduction
to Politics and Governance at the Ateneo de Manila
University. The above article is her paper presentation
during the 2005 National Convention of the Catholic
Educational Association of the Philippines held last
September 14-16, 2005 in Davao City – Ed.)
Volume 40 • Number 1 11
 A R
E
very beginning of a year I’m always
tempted to call out, “We say, ‘HAPPY
NEW YEAR!’ But is the yearly noisy mer-
rymaking all there is to happiness? Are our new
acquisitions, new cars, new clothes, new pairs
of shoes, new year’s resolutions and other ex-
ternals all there is to being new?” This is the
challenge that thinking people, the young ones
and the young once, ask: Is HAPPY NEW YEAR
really HAPPY and NEW? Is it a reality or just a
stale wish? I once greeted my spiritual director
in high school seminary, “Happy New Year,
Father!” His answer was as quick as it was
startling, “It’s up to you!” I thought it was a
witty way of saying that what we do with our
lives is one big factor to making our year happy
and new, save for the fact that very often even
our best decisions and actions don’t translate
into happiness or even newness.
What or who really makes us happy and
new? We don’t have to rack our brains for the
answer. Right. Only God does. Because of this
we start the year, for example, with the celebra-
tion of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
Why? Because she is filled with God. She is our
example and model par excellence of the truly
happy person with an endlessly new freshness
in her. The archangel Gabriel describes her char-
acteristic situation at the Annunciation by the
Greek greeting “kecharitomene”, (“Hail, favored
one. The Lord is with you” [Lk 1:28]). In truth,
the Lord was dwelling in her womb as he has
always been dwelling in her whole person. When
we say she is the Blessed Virgin Mary, we have
to remember that ‘blessed’ is another expres-
sion of the original Greek ‘favored one’ which is
translated into the Latin ‘beata’, that is, ‘happy’.
Mary is happy because her whole self, her whole
life is filled with the Lord’s presence. God’s
presence in her womb makes happiness pos-
sible for others too. So says Elizabeth in Lk 1:44:
“For at the moment the sound of your greeting
reached my ears, the infant in my womb leapt for
joy.”
The book of Numbers confirms this convic-
tion that blessedness comes from God because
the very blessing God asks Moses to bestow on
Israel is one that points to God himself and his
acts among his people and the world. “The Lord
said to Moses: ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons
and tell them: This is how you shall bless the
Israelites. Say to them: The Lord bless you and
keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you,
and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you
kindly and give you peace!” (Numb 6:22-26).
Experts of the Scriptures say that these words
are, in a real sense, revelatory of God as Trinity
and of the Triune God’s distinct acts as Father,
namely, being Creator and Protector; as Son,
namely, being Revealer of Truth (of God and of
man); and as Holy Spirit, namely, being Inspirer
and Source of Peace. St. Paul in his letter to the
12 IMPACT • January 2006
T I C L E S
Galatians tells us that the life of this Triune God
was given to us, as “adopted sons”, through the
Son born on Christmas Day but that this Son was
“born of a woman” (Gal 4:4) who, we know, is
Mary.
If someone helped you get a promotion at
work or in your career or profession you will, no
doubt, be very grateful to that person. Mary
helped us obtain the highest and most unde-
served promotion from being ‘images and like-
nesses of God’ to being ‘children of God’ by
consenting to be the Mother of God’s Son. For
this reason we owe Mary an immeasurable and
eternal debt of gratitude. Indeed for this reason
alone we owe Mary every expression of honor
we can give, otherwise known as ‘hyperdulia’
(the highest honor/veneration given to a human
being, higher than that we give to the saints) but
not equal to the worship we render only to God
himself, otherwise called ‘latria’.
A saying has it that the greatest honor we
give a person is imitating that person. The evan-
gelist Luke tells us that one essential character
of Mary worth imitating is her total openness to
God, especially as reflected in her deeply prayer-
ful attitude to the events surrounding her life
and that of her Son Jesus. Luke’s expression,
“And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on
them in her heart” (Lk 2:19) is another way of
saying Mary was a deeply prayerful person
since she constantly listened to God.
Prayer, according to the experience of the
Mother of God, the happiest and the ever new
‘solitary boast of our race’, is listening not only
to what God is saying by word, i.e., through the
Scriptures, but also to what he is saying non-
verbally, i.e., through the events of life. Mary
stands out as a pray-er or person who prays:
constantly open and humbly submissive to God
in everything. From the very beginning Mary is
filled with God whose presence allowed no trace
of original sin to touch her. There is little won-
der, then, that she became the Mother of God.
But also because of her openness to God who is
the Fount of all Truth, in Mary we find perfect
peace. In fact, who can forget that being Mother
of God, Mary is also Mother of the Prince of
Peace? This year’s papal theme expresses it: “In
truth, peace”.
Pope Benedict XVI in his first message on
the 2006 World Day of Peace, says that peace is
founded on the truth, truth about God and truth
about who we are. For example he says that there
are two present threats to peace in our world:
nihilism and fundamentalism, the root of terror-
ism. Both teach us lies about God and ourselves.
Nihilism denies “God’s existence and his provi-
dent presence in history”; fundamentalism
strives to impose its perceived truth(s) about
God and thus “disfigures his loving and merciful
countenance, replacing him with idols made in
its own image” (Benedict XVI, “The Problem of
 Happy and New?
Think Again
by Rev. Euly B. Belizar, Jr., SThD
Truth and Untruth is Concern of Every
Man and Woman,” Message for ’06
World Day of Peace, n. 10). In conse-
quence, these two threats try to make
us believe two lies: that we can either
live without God or impose on others,
even by violent and unjust means, our
convictions about him. Quoting John
Paul II’s message on the 2002 World
Day of Peace, the Holy Father reiter-
ates, “Those who kill by acts of terror-
ism actually despair of humanity, of life,
of the future. In their view, everything
is to be hated and destroyed” (John
Paul II, Message on the 2002 Word Day
of Peace, n. 6).
How do we deal as Christians with
the threats of nihilism and fundamen-
talism? For a very good start, let’s look
on Mary. Her pervasive openness to
God through prayerful listening to his
Word is the bane of nihilism. Her loving
attention to Elizabeth and the newly
married couple at Cana who ran out of
wine teaches us that service in love is
the best expression of true religion, not
violent imposition of our religious
views. If we as individuals and as com-
munities truly follow in her steps we
would be able to experience peace which
St. Augustine calls “tranquillitas or-
dinis” (the ‘tranquility of order’), ex-
plained by Pope Benedict XVI the Holy
Father as “a situation which ultimately
enables the truth about man to be fully
respected and realized” (Message for
’06 World Day of Peace, n. 4). What is
the truth about man? That we are God’s
children, brothers and sisters to one
another and to all other human beings.
Therein lies the key to peace.
Henry Ford was once asked the
secret of his successful marriage on its
50 th anniversary. He answered: “I use
the same formula that you see with my
cars: I stick to one model.” We can also
be successful men and women of peace
by sticking to one human model: the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
Mother of Peace. I
Volume 40 • Number 1 13
 A R
T
he raid in Albuera, Leyte, about 570
km southeast of Manila, started at
8:30 p.m. local time January 6 when
a leader of New People’s Army (NPA)
rebel group shouted, “attack!” No one
was hurt when 15 rebels stormed a police
station adjacent to the municipal hall but
they carted away 21 pieces of M-16 rifles
and nine .38 caliber pistols deposited at
the police’s armory. Few meters away from
the station were around 40 more insur-
gents serving as lookout. To slow down
any pursuing rescue team, they burned
tires and strewn rocks and other rubbish
on the road as they fled aboard two vans
and a multi-purpose cab. Nine days after,
4 soldiers were killed and eight were in-
jured in an ambush in Motiong, Samar
province. This recent attack is reportedly
intended to give a punch to the govern-
ment forces as rebels made good on their
vow to intensify offensives.
It has been more than year now since the
negotiations between the Arroyo govern-
ment and the communist rebels aimed at
ending the five-decade-long conflict was
suspended with still no substantial progress
in sight. Peace remains as vague as ever. A
framework to guide the actual peace talks in
fact have already been made ever since the
past administrations but clashes of opinions
and apparent distrust on both sides is on top.
In August 2004, the National Demo-
cratic Front (NDF) postponed formal nego-
tiations with the government “to comply
with its obligations” according to the Hague
Joint Declaration approved in 1992 and other
agreements. It proclaims the need for peace
talks to address the roots of the conflict and
arrive at reforms. At least three substantive
issues awaited discussion: constitutional
reforms, socio-economic reforms and dispo-
sition of forces that are the core of the
present armed conflict.
President Arroyo announced her plans
for furthering peace talks as one of the key
issues to be tackled by her government this
year. Whether the process will move on, it
remains to be seen. Apparently, the peace
dialogue with the National Democratic Front
(NDF) is at a crucial juncture. In fact, Luis
Jalandoni, NDF spokesman admitted that
the chance for peace talks is already dim. The
rebel group had broken off formal negotia-
tions last year and cited government’s fail-
ure to honor agreements it had forged with
them.
Prejudicial questions
In 1995, the Joint Agreement on Safety
and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) was mutu-
14 IMPACT • January 2006
T I C L E S
ally approved to protect the panelists. On
October 5, 2005, however, the government
suspended the JASIG as a response to the
NDF’s persistent refusal to peace negotia-
tions and continued atrocities committed by
the rebel forces. Just last January 10, commu-
nist rebels attacked three mobile phone trans-
mission towers. The government also con-
demned the use of landmines by the rebels in
their offensives as violation of the Compre-
hensive Agreement on Respect for Human
Rights and International Humanitarian Law
(CARHRIHL). With the move, 97 NDF per-
sonnel covered by the JASIG with standing
warrants of arrest can be arrested and the
suspension of their criminal proceedings can
be lifted
Testing the government’s sincerity to
pursue peace, the NDF is desirous that the
government resolve the following issues
before the Gov’t-NDF talks are resumed:
Terrorist listing. The NDF demands the
government to at least speak out against the
US and European “terrorist” listing of the
CPP-NPA-NDF. “Instead of protesting US
intervention, the Arroyo regime in fact invites
it,” the CPP said in a statement.
Indemnification of human rights victims.
Almost 10, 000 victims of human rights viola-
tions under the Marcos dictatorship have
won their case in the US Court of Hawai. But
NDF protested that the government reamin
“unjust to these victims by preventing them
from seeking justice” in the Philippines.
Release of political prisoners. During the
formal peace talks in Oslo on June 22, 2004, the
NDF negotiating panel presented a list of 270
political prisoners and asked for their release.
Of high priority are some Mamburao farmers,
the sick and the elderly, women and children,
and those whose release orders were signed
already by President Arroyo in 2001 but have
not yet been released to date.
Acts of killings. The NDF urged the
government to make effective steps to stop
the killings of human rights advocates and
militant leaders and members. Alliance for the
Advancement of People’s Rights documented
more than 400 extra-judicial killings and 130
disappearances since Arroyo assumed power
in January 2001.
Host country
Little headway has been made. Norway
would not align itself with the US and Euro-
pean list of terrorist organizations. “It is a
positive development. This means that Nor-
way is still willing to continue their role as
third-party facilitator in the peace talks be-
tween the GRP and the CPP-NPA,” says
Deputy Chief of the Office of the Presidential
Adviser on the Peace Process Rene Sarmiento.
The Norwegian government is consid-
ering possible setback in its role as neutral
facilitator had it aligned itself from the said
terrorist listing. Norway has been active
participating settlements all over the world.
The first round of the resumption of
peace talks was held in Oslo in April 2001.
The GRP and the NDF Peace Panel approved
to cooperate in finishing the Comprehensive
Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms
within six months from June 2001. Unfortu-
nately, during the second round in June
2001, the GRP postponed indefinitely the
peace talks until 2004 because of the killing
of Colonel Rodolfo Aguinaldo by the NPA.
The Norwegians are very much inter-
ested in the progress of the peace process.
They were concerned when the talks were
disrupted because of Aguinaldo’s death.
But Norway has always been open to host
the talks whenever the two parties are ready.
More road blocks
There seems to be a bigger problem.
Negotiations were said to resume in October
2005 but were postponed again after the com-
munist rebels called for President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo’s resignation following a
jueteng expose and the alleged wiretapped
tapes that implicated the President in poll fraud.
The CPP-NPA-NDF has been encour-
aging mass movement for the ouster of Presi-
dent Arroyo. “She is declared by the people
as unfit to govern because of loss of trust
and credibility due to evidence of massive
cheating in the elections, corruption and
subservience to the US.”
The NDF proposed that the Arroyo
administration should be replaced a transi-
tional council composed of representatives
of different mass movements and the broad
united front but stated that they are not
going to participate in such council. “Such
council shall be the field of work of the legal
democratic movement.”
But the government is still determined
to push the peace negotiation this year.
Whether the mired negotiations be-
tween the Government and the NDF will
succeed, it’s still anybody’s guess. “There’s
a sparkle of hope for as long as there are
Filipinos who call as absurd the killing of
Filipinos by Filipinos,” says a peace advo-
cate. But the roads for a resolution to this one
of the world’s oldest insurgency problem are
present, and peace advocates said that ev-
ery administration should pursue, even if it
has to keep its patience to the limit for its
quest for a genuine reconciliation with all
anti-government groups in the country.

The Persistence of
Insurgency in the
Philippines
by Roy Q. Lagarde
The NDF has yet to decide again with
the invitation of the government for another
round of dialogue— and the scenarios are
not that invigorating.
Digging the roots
Inspired by Soviet communism, it was
in 1930 when the maiden Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP) was organized and
aimed to establish a Soviet-type govern-
ment in the Philippines. They also formed a
military arm known as “Hukbalahap,” which
kept the resistance throughout the Japanese
occupation and contributed significantly to
the return of the United States in 1944.
At its most basic, the ideal of commu-
nism is a system in which everyone is seen
as equal and wealth is distributed equally
among the people. There is no private own-
ership.
After the War, the Huks took part in the
formation of the independent government in
1946, and participated in the political arena.
Its winners, however, were not allowed to
take seats in the legislature because they
were communists. Hence, they resumed their
armed struggle calling themselves as
Hukbong Magpapalaya ng Bayan (HBM).
The CPP then, was re-established on 1968
following Maoist ideology in analyzing the
“chronic crisis” besetting the country. They
cried foul against US intervention in Philip-
pine politics and denounced landlord domi-
nation of the country’s economy. It was
during the Marcos period that the CPP sym-
pathizers and members started to increase
and mutated into an armed struggle thru the
NPA, CPP’s military arm formed in 1969,
against Marcos dictatorship. Its political arm
or the umbrella organization of all leftists-
oriented groups in the country—the NDF,
was set up in the 1970s. At its climax in the
1980s, the NPA controlled more than 25,000
troops and drew middle-class support for
fighting the Marcos regime. Its ranks at
present, however, dwindled to an estimated
8,000 but still the rebels have become more
active in conducting offensives with gov-
ernment forces in the previous months.
Immediately after former President
Aquino came to power in 1986, she started
talks with the NDF but the negotiations
collapsed in 1987. More dialogues have been
made by the next administrations—from
Ramos to Arroyo, but so far, they have not
been successful.
Communism in Eastern Europe col-
lapsed for a number of reasons. One factor
was because it had no political basis or
support. It was riddled with economic prob-
lems and, in comparison to capitalism, was a
complete failure. More so, like their former
comrades in Russia and Eastern Europe,
communism is dead in the hearts and minds
of its people in China. Now, even communist
party leaders are conceding that private
enterprises are there to stay as an “important
part of the socialist, market economy.” Why
has communism lingered like a malady in the
Philippines?
While much of Asia has discarded com-
munism for capitalism, resilience of commu-
nism still persists in the Philippines. The
reasons are simple, according to analysts.
Poverty and social inequity are growing, and
the political levers are held by the landown-
ing Philippine elite, which has dragged its
feet on agrarian reform since the restoration
of democracy in 1986. Even our government’s
counter- communist insurgency efforts have
been characterized by brutality and corrup-
tion and some people are of the belief that a
section of the military feels it is in its interest
not really to totally defeat insurgencies, be-
cause it gives them something to do—finan-
cial gains if you may.
At the end of the day, it can be argued
that the best panacea to insurgency is good
governance. On the premise that commu-
nism thrives on conflict or contradiction, it
was the bad governance of Marcos that
gave it a lift, on the same breath that it
plummeted during the administration of
Ramos. It is no wonder therefore that this
Arroyo government is an encouragement to
the growth of communist insurgency in the
country. I
Volume 40 • Number 1 15
 C O V E R
A
patent paradox—or so it is. While
the first day of the year, January 1,
is greeted with the annual celebra-
tion of World Peace Day, the more ines-
capable it seems to rather easily be en-
gulfed by the dumbing din of ‘unpeace’—
division, conflicts, strifes and wars, vio-
lence, terrorism, aggression and oppres-
sion, assault on civil liberties and human
rights, etc.—all in the intra-national or
domestic, national, regional, international,
and global levels. While modern-day ad-
vancements in information and communi-
cation technology would have suppos-
edly narrowed the gaps to bring forth
Marshall McLuhan’s “global village,”
peoples and nations, as it were, are invari-
ably coming apart, if not polarized, at the
seams.
Ostensibly, contemporary world
events—or, bluntly put, “protocols of the
new world (dis)order”—undeniably un-
veil the despicable indicators of ‘unpeace’:
the continuing profligate occupation of
alien territories and subjugation of peoples
by powerful countries (US on Iraq, Af-
ghanistan, etc.; Israel on Palestine; Russia
on Chechnya and areas of Asian Dagestan;
China on Tibet; Pakistan and India on
Kashmir; Indonesia on West Papua and
Timor Leste; Morocco on Western Sa-
hara; and a lot more); the ethnic and reli-
gious strifes in Sri Lanka, Bosnia and
Rwanda; the lingering tensions between
China and Taiwan, North and South
Koreas; the domestic armed struggles in
some countries (the Acehnese in Indone-
sia; the NPAs in the Philippines, not to
mention the country’s deepening political
crisis and alarming incidents of terrorism
and criminal activities); intra-national and
global arms trade; and, of course, not ex-
cluding the heightened global anxiety and
fear carried out in the name of America’s
war on terror resulting to massive assault
on civil liberties and human rights—both
in domestic and international fronts—and
thus, more than ever, as not only few aptly
observe, fragile freedoms are unwittingly
held under pressure in virtually every cor-
ner of the globe.
Inarguably hence, on cursory blush,
the contemporary world, or even likely
since time immemorial, is yet bereft of a
universal and lasting peace, let alone the
annual observance of World Peace Day.
Present-day realities—akin to the greedy
‘protocols’ of global hegemony—undeni-
ably eschew or evade the possibility, much
less the immanence, of a genuine human
solidarity, world peace and cooperation.
Even more, for some, this candid estima-
16 IMPACT • January 2006
S T O R Y
tion—nay an outright oversimplification
but albeit bordering likely on upright pes-
simism—of current declining world order
has been pushed further to even render
the futility of the ever-strident yet never-
ending debate or discourse on peace, or
world peace in particular. “Really, it’s but
quite exasperating, if not plainly futile, to
be talking about peace when year in and
year out, the victims of oppression, ag-
gression and exploitation continue to suf-
fer their lot and whereas the high and
mighty hold on to the status quo of con-
flict, violence, aggression, or oppression
to perpetuate their dominance. I am cer-
tainly for peace, but perhaps it is high time
to stop talking or cut short on rhetorics
and rather delve on concrete action or
tangible results for peace,” a prominent
Catholic archbishop from the Philippines
recently said.
Curiously, wherefore, have the affairs
of this one civilized world helplessly
pushed us to acquiesce both the egre-
gious impossibility, seemingly so, of col-
lective human solidarity or world peace
and the inevitability of war or violence?
Or, have war, violence or aggression inevi-
tably become a permanent scourge, a sine
qua non to humanity and the world?
Pax Americana: The root of
‘unpeace’ or declining world
order
In such spheres of war, inter-societal
or inter-national aggression, terrorism and
armed conflict, the truism on the cyclical
notion of history (“history repeats itself”)
can no less be adduced. Gone are the
grand old glories of the Roman Empire, the
regal exploits of Spanish and Portuguese
conquistadores, the purportedly benign
pursuits of English and American colo-
nialism, the horror of Hitler’s Germany and
World War II, and others more—but their
similar repressive, exploitative, or oppres-
sive upshots are invariably reverberated
even more to this day. The Israeli occupa-
tion and settlement of the West Bank and
Gaza, the Iran-Iraq war of 1980, the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan and Chechnya,
the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, the US in
Afghanistan and Iraq, China in Tibet, the
Russians in the Caucasus, India and Paki-
stan parceling up Kashmir—to mention a
few—are but present day repetitions of
humanity’s cyclical history of war, vio-
lence and armed conflict. Indeed, then as
now, the fate of weaker nation-states are
decided, if not dictated, by other powerful
countries.
But, what did precipitate the contem-
porary ‘unpeace’ or declining world or-
der?
Professor Richard Falk, a noted inter-
national law and human rights expert,
readily attributes “America’s imperial geo-
politics” as the principal culprit for the
present-day ‘unpeace’ and declining world
order. Similarly too, Chandra Muzzafar,
president of the International Movement
for a Just World, cannot agree more in
blaming America’s grand agenda of global
hegemony that hurriedly sent its war drums
beating to invade Afghanistan and Iraq
after the 9/11 tragedy and thereon precipi-
tated likewise America’s global war on
terror.
Not that US global hegemonic pur-
suits, and so with its grim consequences
of having claimed millions of human lives,
did only commence with the September 11,
2001 tragic event—it even dates further
back to the 1940’s. Chandra Muzzafar, in
his article “The Tyranny of Terror; the
Triumph of Truth ,” published in the No-
vember-December 2001 issue of Impact,
particularly notes, “US hegemony extends
throughout the world…(it) began on 6
August 1945 with the bombing of
Hiroshima which obliterated thousands of
innocent people from the face of the earth.
It is estimated that 3 million people died in
Vietnam and Indochina so that the US
could maintain its hegemonic power. And
in Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile,
and indeed the whole of Latin America,
from fifties to the eighties, tens of thou-
sands of innocent men, women and chil-
dren had perished as a result of a
superpower’s desire to perpetuate its con-
trol and dominance through covert opera-
tions, espionage activities, assassination
squads, economic strangulation and or-
ganized political subversion.”
Likewise, on hindsight, authors Johan
Galtung and Dietrich Fischer (“To End Ter-
rorism, End State Terrorism,” December
2002 issue of Impact) claim that “since 1945,
the US has intervened abroad 67 times
causing 12 million deaths, about half through
overt action by the Pentagon and the other
half through covert action by the CIA.”
And what about the death ledger sheet
of America’s terror war in Iraq? Only last
month, early December of 2005, US Presi-
dent George Bush openly admitted before
media reporters: “How many Iraqi citizens
have died in this war? I would say 30,000,
more or less, have died as a result of the
initial incursion and the ongoing violence
against Iraqis. We’ve lost about 2,140 of
our own troops in Iraq.”
Peace in a
Divided
World
by Bob Acebedo

The marks of a declining world order are

inescapably telling—polarization of world
powers with the US spearheading the
global hegemony, vicious violence of ter-
rorism and counter-terrorism, repressive
upshots of globalization, domestic and
global arms trade, religious and ethnic-
racial strifes, and more. Are there yet
chances for peace?

Volume4040• Number
Volume • Number1 1 1717
 C O V E R S T O R Y

America’s imperial geopolitics or glo-

bal hegemony provided its agenda for a
new world order (if disorder?)—Pax
Americana—equally spelling out its he-
gemonic stance on world peace. For the
US, to “maintain peace is to prepare for
war”—and for Bush, the world must ac-
cept war as the only moral and workable
option. But, verily, this is a rather es-
chewed world order policy cadged from
America’s abattoir of global imperialism;
while projecting itself as the world’s su-
per cop, America exposes all the more its
latent hegemonic interest of global eco-
nomic domination.
President Bush’s neo-conservative
policy-approach of ‘unilateralism’ best
exhibits or reflects America’s imperial geo-
politics. Bush’s strategic agenda or plans
were made evident in the National Secu-
rity Strategy document released in Sep-
tember 20, 2002. This document laid out
in stark, arrogant detail the US military
strategy and its political rationale. It
dismisses deterrence, containment and
other strategic perspectives as Cold War
relics. It unashamedly adopts The War on Terrorism Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, outside the pro-
‘unilateralism’ as an approach—on “con- tection of US courts and law. The US
vincing or compelling states to accept The 9/11 tragedy it was that Patriot Act which restricts the rights of
their sovereign responsibilities.” It prompted the Bush’s administration’s both citizens and non-citizens, has pro-
speaks in blunt terms what it calls “Ameri- launching of the global war on terrorism. vided a template for anti-terrorist laws in
can Internationalism,” i.e., ignoring inter- America’s invasion of Afghanistan and many countries. In Britain, more than
national opinion if that suits US interests. its unprovoked aggression in Iraq, as 500 people have been arrested on terror-
It asserts an American right to ‘preemp- well as the appalling assault on civil ist-related charges. Italy and Holland
tive attack’ against its perceived enemies liberties, have been carried out in the are number one and two in Europe in
whether individuals or governments. name of the war on terror. Since then, wiretapping their citizens. In Iraq, about
Of course, America’s enormous mili- President Bush has relentlessly been 20,000 armed soldiers are employed by
tary superiority worldwide—a principal trotting around the globe preaching the private military contractors, mostly from
requisite in carrying out its hegemonic gospel of terror war and prodding other Britain and the US. Russia has consis-
ends—cannot at all be doubted. From the nation-states to follow suit in drawing tently used War on Terror as an excuse
outbreak of World War II, America’s up and enacting counter-terrorism mea- to ‘engage in extrajudicial executions,
174,000 US Army reportedly rose to 1.4 sures that range from stringent overt- arrests and extortion of civilians as part
million “standing army” and 2.5 million covert police action to government-state of its continued occupation of Chechnya.
reserve army in 2001. And by far, as of legislations that run across or closely The Australian government has
date, the US maintains overseas military stifle human rights, civil liberties and scapegoated asylum-seekers as poten-
bases in almost 60 territories worldwide, fragile freedoms—and suddenly, every tial terrorists and either prevented them
which includes: Afghanistan, American corner of the world, from Bethlehem to from entering or kept them in prison
Samoa, Antigua, Australia, Austria, Ba- Bogota, is deigned prone to terror. camps. In Djibouti, 100,000 residents
hamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Bosnia, Britain, Touted as “Total Information Aware- were expelled in October 2003 because
Bulgaria, Canada, Columbia, Cuba, ness,” the Pentagon mustered every they represented a potential terrorist
Curacao, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, potential of modern information-com- ‘threat’ to the peace and security of the
France, Germany, Greenland, Guam, Hon- munication technology—closed circuit country. In Southern Thailand, Thai
duras, Iceland, Diego Garcia (Indian TV, biometrics, national identity cards, security forces were responsible for the
Ocean), Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Johnston PC monitoring, remote-sending satel- death of 78 Muslim demonstrators in fall
Atoll (Pacific), Korea, Kosovo, Kuwait, lites, CAPPS (Computer Assisted Pas- of 2004. Bangladesh is trying to amend
Kwajalein Atoll (Pacific), Kygyzstan, Lux- senger Pre-Screening Index), etc.— to its telecommunications law to make ille-
emburg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nor- scour data or information for the US gally intercepted emails usable as evi-
way, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Master Terror Watchlist, which now has dence in Court. In Uganda, the suppres-
Puerto Rico, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, more than five million names on it. sion of Terrorism Bill 2001 imposes a
Singapore, Spain, St. Helena (Atlantic), The world picture of post-9/11 War mandatory death sentence for terrorists.
Tajikistan, Turkey, Egypt, Uzbekistan, on Terror is remarkably chilling. The US These and others more are appalling
Virgin Islands, Wake Island (Pacific). continues to hold over 600 detainees in consequences of America’s global war

18 IMPACT • January 2006

 Peace
on terror.
However, critics—peace advocates
and human rights activists—from all
over the world are quick to assail that
America’s War on Terror is primarily
missing the point: it has miserably failed
to address the real roots of terrorism and
has instead diverted the world’s atten-
tion from the deeper roots of global inse-
curity as poverty, disease and environ-
mental decline. Critics contend that ter-
rorism cannot simply be eliminated or
resolved by a demonstration of military
force, dispatching troops, sealing bor-
ders, or creating a world garrison state in
which peoples may come to witness glo-
bal surveillance, an all-inclusive control
of private life, and a drastic reduction in
the free circulation of citizens across the
planet, across borders. Terrorism, ac-
cording to Michael Renner of
Worldwatch Institute, is “only symp-
tomatic of a far broader set of deep con-
cerns that have produced a new age of
anxiety.”
Accordingly, Radmila Nakarada,
Belgrade University professor, points
out the far deeper roots of terrorism:
unresolved national aims or denial of
statehood, and the inhuman side of glo-
balization. “Responses (to terrorism)
have been inappropriate because a blind
eye has been turned to the deeper eth-
nic, social and cultural roots of terror-
ism. The most widespread forms of ter-
rorism is linked to the unresolved na-
tional aims and the denial of a statehood
that is violently pursued. The tragedy in
America represents a ‘novelty’ because,
for the first time, the target was not just
the US as a state but as the hegemonic
actor of global order…the repressive,
inhuman side of globalization is a pow-
erful source of terrorism. Hand in hand
across the planet march the fabulous
wealth of the greedy giants, and the
globalization of poverty. The passive
hopelessness and helplessness is trans-
formed into active extremism and funda-
mentalism which constitute the broad
social base of small terrorist groups. In
addition, the aggressive globalization
driving forcefully the world into a uni-
form cultural mould inevitably provokes
violent reactions,” noted Nakarada in
his article “The Tragedy of a Tragedy:
Global Terrorism and Repressive Glo-
balization.”
But, as poverty has often been fac-
tored to fuel terrorism, Chandra Muzzafar
of the International Movement for a Just
World particularly opposes the claim. In
in a Divided
an interview-article published in the
March 2003 issue of Impact, Muzzafar
explained, “In many of the analyses that
have emerged on the causes of terror-
ism, poverty has often been suggested
as one of the factors. This is totally off
the mark. Individuals and groups some-
times resort to acts of terror in their
attempt to thwart the hegemonic grip of
some state or power, which, in their opin-
ion, has denied them justice or dignity.
The people involved in those acts of
terror may be quite wealthy, as Osama
was, or well educated or even religious in
the conventional sense. It is their per-
ception of the denial of justice and dig-
nity which is the critical factor. And
what appears to figure prominently in
their notion of justice and dignity is the
question of identity and sovereignty.
The struggles of the Irish Republican
Army (IRA), the Basque movement in
Spain, the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka, the
Chechens in Russian, the Kashmiris in
India, the Palestinians in the Middle East
all revolve around dignity, identity and
sovereignty. Indeed, if there is any one
issue that is central to the problem of
terror it is the desire to affirm and assert
one’s identity.”
The War of Peace Ideologies or
Models
In such age of a declining world
order, not only the vicious cycle of vio-
lence (as that of 9/11 to Afghanistan and
Iraq invasions), of lingering protracted
intra-national and inter-national strifes or
Word
conflicts, of terrorism and counter-terror-
ism conspicuously spawn to the fore but
even also the likely irreconcilable clash
among peace ideologues who are all con-
triving to proffer their individual propos-
als or models of social order and peace.
Likely enough, peace has invariably be-
come more complicated a concept to be
defined as it has even more become less
realized in the concrete world order.
Certainly, however, all peace ideo-
logues and advocates agree on the no-
tion that peace does imply not only the
negation or mere absence of war, conflict,
or violence (such otherwise naively
smacks of vacuous tranquility) but im-
portantly the active or workable presence
and immanence of Justice, Dignity, Free-
dom and Sovereignty, Truth, Compas-
sion and Respect. But even so, just as the
absence of conflict or violence in a given
situation is already pragmatically elusive
(and, more so, is practically impossible in
such case as total or absolute absence of
conflict or violence), the relatively vary-
ing notions and explications of Justice,
Freedom, Sovereignty and Dignity
equally pose to be problematic among
different cultural settings.
Indeed, even as the current declining
world order has unfailingly accommo-
dated the strident yearning for peace,
ideologies or models of peace and social
order do vary in many ways than one.
One, peace has often been associ-
ated with development. Simply put, peace
springs forth with development. But again,
development is obviously so broad a term
as it is in meaning and concept and is
Volume 40 • Number 1 19

openly suspect to some qualifying or
delimiting specifications—economic, cul-
tural, religious-spiritual, etc. The prob-
lem becomes manifest when peace is nar-
rowly equated to construe a limited as-
pect of development, e.g. economic, and
the other essential elements are over-
looked.
Then, there is the “classless soci-
ety” ideological model of peace, repre-
sented by Marxist-communism. Peace, it
is argued, is attained at the cost of relent-
less class struggle or conflict. However,
the utopia of “classless society” has been
proven historically, if not pragmatically,
unfeasible as demonstrated by the break-
down of Communist Europe.
Also, others—Asians particularly—
would yearn with coveted emulation for
peace formulae demonstrated or modeled
by the touted “economic miracles” of
developed countries in Asia—the state-
authoritarianism of Singapore, the demo-
cratic religious-political tolerance of Ma-
laysia, the protectionist approach of Ja-
pan, and others. But still, it may be gleaned
that Asia is so diverse in culture that
individual countries have trekked the path
of development along with their endemic
cultural ingredients.
But, on the whole, notwithstanding
the foregoing models or approaches of
peace, Hannah Newcombe of Peace Re-
search Institute Dundas contends that
the debate or battle of peace models—
viewed on long-range, fundamental ap-
proaches—is narrowed down to only two
basic models: one is “world federal gov-
ernment” and the other is “principled
nonviolence.”
The proponents of these two alter-
natives to the current world order, ac-
cording to Newcombe, have not always
been on friendly terms. “The pacifist
wing of the peace movement has faulted
world government model for its contin-
ued reliance on violence i.e. enforcing
world law against international criminals,
or UN peacekeeping forces using weap-
ons, even if rarely. The internationalist
wing of the peace movement saw nonvio-
lence as offering no answers to the prob-
lem of deliberate evil-doers,” Newcombe
said.
The two approaches or models, world
federal government and principled non-
violence, if taken to extremes, have their
individual definitive drawbacks.
Newcombe explains the individual char-
acteristics and limitations of the two
models:
“At its worst, the world government
20 IMPACT • January 2006
C O V E R S T O R Y
proposals are too centralizing, even if
federal structure is postulated. They
make Hobbesian assumption about hu-
man nature, and extend them to the inter-
national arena: just as individuals need a
strong government to prevent them from
mutual killing and stealing, so do nations.
The Hobbesian solution is adopted, giv-
ing the government a monopoly of vio-
lence. Some schemes suggest that nuclear
weapons should be transferred to the
world government, while individual na-
tions are disarmed. This begs the ques-
tion of tyranny—what if those central-
ized weapons of mass destruction are
used to terrorize everybody into obeying
a tyrant? The world government model at
its worst is too state-oriented, ignoring
other actors on the world stage, such as
people’s organizations, churches, or mul-
tinational corporations…
“The nonviolence model also has
drawbacks. It tends to be anarchist, as
does the Green Movement. While ‘small’
may be ‘beautiful’, global problems still
require global solutions. Radioactive con-
tamination, acid rain, and global warming
do not respect national borders, or even
the borders of bio-regions. The
movement’s model of human nature tends
to be in the ‘noble savage’ tradition of
Rousseau: people would get along just anxiety of terrorism and counter-terror-
fine if governments left them alone. Hu- ism; intra-national and inter-national
man nature is likely to be somewhere armed conflicts—are there yet chances
between the conceptions of Hobbes and for peace?
Rousseau. The prohibition of violence is Indeed, even peace ideologues are
sometimes too extreme; a pilot gone crazy not one in contriving a common formula
and about to bomb Russia and trigger for peace. But there is no arguing though
nuclear war should not be shot down, that the world certainly shares a com-
according to this absolutist view. Also, mon humanity and that peace is indeed
avoidance of verbal and psychological an “irrepressible yearning present in the
violence as well as physical violence heart of each person, regardless of his or
would leave us almost unable to commu- her particular cultural identity.” For
nicate in conflict situations. No manipu- such, hence, some common grounds may
lation or coercion? This seems equally be postulated to pave the way or chances
unrealistic; we all do it all the time, though of peace.
usually without physical violence. More- One, there’s no denying that man is
over, in practice the nonviolent move- social by nature. The Second Vatican
ment also manipulates and coerces oth- Council aptly puts it: “God did not create
ers. While the world-government is too man for life in isolation, but for the for-
statist, the nonviolence movement is too mation of social unity.” And even a
individualist.” consideration of man’s physical and
psychological characteristics also
Grounds for Optimism shows man’s natural sociability. Hence,
between the individual man and society,
In the face of the current declining the common good holds eminence over
world order—polarization of world pow- the private good. If peace then can be
ers spearheaded by America’s global equated as good, it is imperative that it
hegemony; inhuman or repressive con- be oriented towards the good of soci-
sequences of globalization; domestic ety—or “the greatest interest for the
and global arms trade; religious, ethnic greater number of people”—over pri-
and racial strifes and violence; global vate good or individual interest.
 New Year's / from p. 27

articuprocess is accounted for in the
Bible as an angel wrestling with him the
whole night. At the end, he was given
a name, a new one, a new beginning
because of what he discovered in him-
self. He was called “Israel”, that is,
strong with God. That night experience
gave Jacob the strength to face his
brother and all the other succeeding
events of his life. He was reconciled not
only to his brother, but to himself. The
night helped him did that.
Yes, the night offers inwardness, it
offers aloneness. Freed of vision, we
see inside. Primary concerns emerge;
much that seemed demanding and im-
portant is now seen as a trick played by
the light. As one poet said: “Darkness
is the black cape of the magician laid
gently upon the world, until all that
seemed certain vanishes, and we ques-
tion comprehension itself. We can then
search in a new way. It is no wonder
that God works at night. When he cre-
ated the sun, the moon and the stars,
the birds of the air, the fishes in the sea,
the beasts in the field, and finally man,
he was actually hovering in the dark-
ness of chaos, of night. When he freed
His people from the slavery of Egypt,
he was there under cover of the night,
fighting alone the enemy of his chosen
people. And when the fullness of time
came, God came into this world to bring
peace to all men of good will—it was
night.
And so, when I saw our people
braved the nights of Christmas and
shook off with disdain the heavy rain,
the muddy road, and the black outs,
then with high hope I said: Our nation
will survive. It nurtures people who
know the power of the night and the
need for God.
Happy New Year!
+LEONARDO Y. MEDROSO, DD
Bishop of Borongan

Another is that, in such an imper-

fect world, there’s no arguing the fact
that all forms of violence, including
verbal and psychological, cannot be
totally eradicated or eliminated; other-
wise, as Newcombe said, “avoidance of
verbal and psychological violence as
well as physical violence would leave
us almost unable to communicate in
conflict situations.” Moreover,
Newcombe adds, the absence of any
form of manipulation or coercion seems
equally unrealistic. But even so, not-
Oh God, bless this nation in crisis.
withstanding the declining order, the
imperfect world is certainly not devoid
Heal our country’s wounds.
of order or, nonetheless, the possibility
for greater order or growth—and hence,
Unite the Silent Majority who long for
likewise the possibility or chances for
peace.
truth, justice, and peace.
Finally, no doubt, violence indeed
germinates or begins in the minds or
Grant us the power and wisdom to fight
hearts of people. Hence, the efforts or
work of peace—and its related tenets as for the common welfare.
intercultural sensitivity, mutual respect,
shared spirituality, sense of social jus- Help us seal the door where evil dwells.
tice, etc.—to conquer or resolve vio-
lence should likewise begin in the hearts May light, love and grace restore God’s
and minds of people. Peace, wherefore,
likewise srpings forth from the heart of plan for us.
man — and a “heart of peace” might just http://www.silentmajorityprayer.org/
as well pave for a “world of peace.” I

Volume 40 • Number 1 21
 A R
Sex and
Gender
by Fr. Roy Cimagala
I
f the title baffles you, it may be because
you are still happily unaware of the
questionable moves some radical femi-
nists are making in many places nowa-
days.
This may still be a good thing to have,
but I must hasten to say that we cannot
and should not be naive and complacent
with this development. Though it affects
more the advanced countries, it is actually
also affecting us in our own country.
Even in my native Bohol, once a sleepy
place but now, thanks be to God, bustling
with life due to tourism, these disturbing
maneuvers are taking place.
22 IMPACT • January 2006
T I C L E S
Imagine, in a supposedly Catholic
school run by nuns, the little girls are
taught not anymore to address God as
Father, because according to them God
has no sex and gender. Similar efforts to
neuter Jesus Christ are reportedly being
made too.
The parents, of course, were alarmed.
A mother complained why such fuss was
raised over this matter, when it is quite
clear that in the Bible, God is referred to as
Father or Son or Holy Spirit.
This, to me, already sounds like a
radical feminist paranoia, that tries to undo
well-entrenched historical and cultural el-
ements with an arbitrary and abrupt move.
There are other manifestations of the same
paranoia.
Another feminist group, now band-
ing themselves as an NGO in Bohol, is
busy teaching young girls about the dif-
ferent techniques of safe sex, including a
“taste test” of the different flavors
condoms now have.
The problem with the radical feminist
movement is that while it raises legitimate
questions and issues worthy of public
attention and concern, it also pursues and
promotes an ideology that not only is anti-
Christian, but also is clearly anti-human.
Thus, its proponents deftly use nice
words and concepts, such as reproduc-
tive health, responsible parenthood, and
the like, while at the same time rewriting
moral law by promoting contraception,
sterilization, even abortion.
They can talk about rights of women
over their own bodies, taking this to mean
that women have the absolute right to do
anything with their bodies because these
are theirs. In short, the Church should not
pontificate on this matter. Let the women
be absolutely free with respect to their
bodies!
Now, in many international confer-
ences, radical feminists not only make a
distinction between sex and gender, be-
tween the natural differences between men
and women and the cultural and historical
attitudes related to these natural differ-
ences.
They are separating them, detaching
gender completely from sex, and making
gender a purely cultural thing with no
relation to the sexual nature of the person.
Thus, because of this emphasis on
gender, as defined and understood by
them, any person can be anything he or
she likes—masculine, feminine, homo-
sexual, bisexual, etc., irrespective of one’s
natural sexual condition. Every so-called
sexual orientation chosen by a person
would just be all right.
This is the kind of mentality that is
being propagated by some feminist groups
these days. This is a clear case of what is
termed by the present Pope as moral rela-
tivism about which he is warning all of us.
This is neither progress nor growth in
maturity. This is a regression to barbarian-
ism.
While we all have to love one another
as we are, this charity does not mean we
can totally forget the objective truth of
things. We have to learn to blend both,
because one without the other nullifies or
empties both. I
 E N T E R T A I N M E N T

Author C. S. Lewis is said

CATHOLIC INITIATIVE
FOR E NLIGHTENED
MOVIE APPRECIATION
Title: NARNIA
Running Time: 139 mins
Lead Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William
Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy,
Jim Broadbent, Liam Neeson (voice)
Director: Andrew Adamson
Producers: Mark Johnson, Philip Steur
Screenwriters: Ann Peacock, Andrew Adamson,
Christopher Markus, Stephen Mcfeely
Music: Harry Gregson-Williams
Genre: Fantasy
Cinematography: Donald McAlpine
Distributor: Walt Disney
Location: England
Technical Assessment: @@@½
Moral Assessment: ###½
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 13 and below with
parental guidance
© Royalty-Free/CORBIS
to have believed that anything
worth reading will be appreci-
ated by everyone, whether he
is aged 5 or 50. The Chronicles
of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe proves
Lewis is right about believing
so. Young and old alike will
find meaning in the film which
is replete with religious sym-
bols that are unmistakably
Christian. Aslan the lion is
Christ-like in his being “a will-
ing victim ... killed in a traitor’s
stead”?he is slain in a ritual on
a stone table, but he also res-
urrects, first witnessed by
women, and revives with his
breath the Narnians that had
been turned to stone under the
spell of the White Witch.
(Date Reviewed: 13 January 2006 @
cbcpworld.com/cinema)

T
o keep them away and protected from the
Nazi air raids, the Pevensie children?Lucy
(Georgie Henly), Edward (Skandar
Keynes), Edmund (William Moseley), and Su-
san (Anna Popplewell)?are evacuated from Lon-
don and sent to live in the huge country house
of an eccentric professor (Jim Broadbent). One
day, while playing hide-and-seek, Lucy, the
youngest, enters a veiled armoire to hide but
instead walks into a wintry landscape where she
is befriended by Mr. Tumnus, a faun (James
McAvoy). She returns home to tell of her expe-
rience but nobody believes her, until her brother
Edmund sees for himself the truth of Lucy’s
story. Then all Pevensie children venture into
the magical world of mythical creatures and
talking animals to rescue Mr. Tumnus who is
imprisoned for fraternizing with Lucy. They
eventually get involved in a fight and take the
side of Narnia’s lion Aslan (voice of Liam
Neeson) against the evil White Witch (Tilda
Swinton).
C.S. Lewis’ beloved children’s fantasy, The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and
the Wardrobe was first published in 1950 and
has since been made into a stage production,
television series and animated feature. Disney’s
$150-million adaptation of this first of the seven
chronicles is a cinematic marvel that amazes us
with fantastic computerized images that enhance
instead of upstage the human presence in the
film. It is an imaginative but faith-friendly film
that remains true to the adventure story and
truly delivers Lewis’s message of heroism.

Volume 40 • Number 1 23
 F R O M T H E B L O G S

Evangelization

E
vangelization is the fundamental
mission of the Church. The mis-
sion mandates and commits the
Church to proclaim the Gospel truths.
The proclamation is focused on the good
news of human salvation brought about
by the life and teaching of Christ. The
teaching is focused on the love of God
and the love of neighbor.
Love of neighbor means to guide
the wealthy and to help the poor, to
advise the powerful and to assist the
weak, to correct what is wrong and pro-
mote what is right, to counter vice and
inculcate virtue.
Love of neighbor covers working

Hungry
not only for charity but also for justice,
preaching not only for the forgiveness
of sinners but also asking their repen-
tance, looking not only for the eternal
good of people but also for their tempo-
ral welfare here and now.

Republic
Love of neighbor includes not only
praising the Lord but also caring for
people, not only teaching piety and
devotion but also engaging in social
action and reform, not merely arranging
novenas and processions but also cen-
suring lies and deceit, searching for

truth and working for peace.
Evangelization is not exactly a sac-
risty work, neither does it imply a com-
fortable and serene lifestyle, nor a sim-
ply pleasant and pleasing activity. Oth-
erwise the first Evangelizer, Christ,
would not have been denounced and
tortured, crucified and killed even.
If the Church plays blind, deaf and
dumb to fraud, graft and corruption, to
violation of human rights and injustice,
to socio-political immorality and dema-
goguery, such would be a mockery of
evangelization, and insult to love of
neighbor, a betrayal of her mission.
The Church should be the constant
worry and big headache to those who
play god and exploit people, who act as
the owner of the country and the Lord of
the citizens. They cannot do it for long,
much less, for keeps. Reason: they are
not and will never be!
Evangelization is not for those who
love themselves but not their neigh-
bors, who only see the beauty of heaven
but overlook the dirt on earth.
Among others, let the present ad-
ministration know, understand and re-
member what evangelization really is.
www.ovc.blogspot.com
T
he once vainly proclaimed “Strong
Republic” has degenerated into a
Gambling Republic. It has in fact
even now deteriorated to a Hungry Re-
public. What is very strange is that while
the peso has become strong, it has less
buying power. There are lesser meals
taken in the country. Hence, there is
hunger among many people of this once
happy and peaceful republic.
There are more taxes yet there are
less public services rendered in the land.
The composite national debt is much
bigger but national development is mea-
ger if any. Those in power sing promis-
ing songs but the common tao hear dis-
tressing cries. As the Administration
makes more and more elating promises
and glowing predictions, people experi-
ence bigger despair and discontent.
Whatever happened to the glorious
Ten-Point Agenda trumpeted in 2004
before the elections? Where became of
all the glowing post-election SONA high-
lights? How come all the glory thereforth
kept going and is now all gone?
Seen a rich country, yet the govern-
ment is bankrupt and the people are now
poorer. Considered as a paradise, both
the professionals and simple workers
however are leaving it behind. Called the
“Pearl of the Orient”, there are neverthe-
less continuous travel warnings to for-
eigners to avoid seeing it. Time and
again the Administration claims a fast
growing economy, still it is but the OFW
composite remittance that keeps the
country afloat.
Something must be radically wrong
neither with the country nor its people—
but with their governance. There should
be wrong persons holding key public
offices in the land. The liability cannot
be on the followers but their leaders.
The ultimate victims of this pitiful phe-
nomenon are the same—the people in
general, the women and children in par-
ticular.
History teaches the empirical les-
son that empty stomachs have no ears.
A hungry republic cannot continue to
stand. A hungry people will not suffer
long and much. Promises do not rem-
edy hunger. Simply big words do not fill
even but a small stomach. The mere
rhetoric of the Administration and the
loud complimenting chorus of the its
well clothed and much fed minions
would not satisfy national hunger.
Something somehow shall give in some-
time.
www.ovc.blogspot.com

24 IMPACT • January 2006

 E D I T
Moral Ascendancy
S
ome call it high moral ground. Others say
strong moral authority. There are those
who know it as moral ascendancy. They all
mean essentially the same: The well felt moral
persuasion of someone who is held beyond sus-
picion of evil design and malicious agenda. And
blessed are those who wield moral ascendancy.
This is especially applicable to those in tenure of
a public office which is considered a public trust.
The same has a particular relevance for someone
who exercises no less than the highest executive
office in the land.
It is rather easy for someone to govern when
he or she enjoys the respect and confidence of
the public. It is a matter of course for citizens to
follow and abide by the biddings of their leader
who lives with righteousness. Moral ascendancy
is what connects the one governing and the gov-
erned, what cements their mutual appreciation
and deference.
Moral degradation is the exact opposite. It
is both a sad and pitiful spectacle to behold
followers making fun, doing odious effigies,
O R I A L
texting bad jokes about their leader. But it is
even more lamentable and pathetic when the
leader concerned appear unconcerned and un-
moved by such degrading actions and disre-
spectful reactions.
Herein lies the fundamental socio-political
predicament of the Malacañang President. There
is the common perception that it is much more
important for her to be practical than to be moral
in what she plans and does. It appears to many
that she seems more preoccupied in keeping
armed power than in having moral authority.
The result of her perceived lack of moral
ascendancy is predictable. Her motives and plans,
her programs and projects are met, rightly or
wrongly, with suspicion and rejection. She may
want to lead but it is not followed. She may be
working hard but to no avail. Unless a leader
enjoys even but the semblance of moral ascen-
dancy, the leadership is doomed to fail from the
very start. This is the basic premise of the big and
lasting socio-political liability of the proclaimed—
not acclaimed—President.
Volume 40 • Number 1 25
 S T
In Truth,
Peace
A New Year ’s Message
F
ollowing the tradition by his prede-
cessors, Popes Paul VI and John
Paul II, Pope Benedicts XVI has is-
sued a message of peace for today, the first
day of January 2006. Our greetings then to
one another “Happy New Year” must in-
clude our desire to be with the Holy Father
in praying and witnessing for peace, not
only today but throughout the coming
year.
26 IMPACT • January 2006
A T E M E N
The theme chosen for this year’s re-
flection is “In Truth, Peace”. This theme
“express the conviction that wherever and
whenever men and women are enlightened
by the splendor of truth, they naturally set
out on the path of peace.” St. Augustine
described peace as tranquillitas ordinis,
the tranquility of order. By this St. Augus-
tine meant a situation which ultimately
enables the truth about man to be truly
T S
respected and realized”. Hence, the way of
peace and the way to peace is by respect-
ing the truth about man, i.e., the truth
about the persons I am leading or in con-
tact with. In this way I will learn how to be
in right relationship with him/her. Respect
for the truth of a person produces a peace-
ful relationship with him/her.
The Holy Father wrote: “Any authen-
tic search for peace must begin with the
realization that the problem of truth and
untruth is the concern of every man and
woman; it is decisive for the peaceful fu-
ture of our planet.” Wars and production
of weapons, acts of terrorism, violations of
human rights, disturbance of harmonious
coexistence; these have their source in
untruth or false beliefs about man. “The
truth of peace calls upon everyone to
cultivate productive and sincere relation-
ships; it encourages them to seek out and
to follow the paths of forgiveness and
reconciliation, to be transparent in their
dealings with others, and to be faithful to
their word.” All kinds and all manners of
lies are likely to disturb peaceful relations
of people to one another. “Lying is linked
to the tragedy of sin and its perverse
consequences, which have had, and con-
tinue to have, devastating effects on the
lives of individuals and nations.”
Pope Benedict XVI continues his
message: “If peace is to be authentic and
lasting, it must be built on the bedrock of
the truth about God and truth about man.
This truth alone can create sensitivity to
justice and openness to love and solidar-
ity, while encouraging everyone to work
for a truly free and harmonious human
family. The foundations of authentic peace
rest on the truth about God and man.”
At this point in time, in our country, if
we want to work for national renewal and
transformation, if we want peace in our
social and political relationships, we must
make every effort to value and to witness
to truth. This is very basic in human
transaction. Truth is the foundation of
integrity, credibility and accountability.
The opposite is true: lies destroy integrity,
credibility and accountability. Truth
builds, untruth destroys. We can apply
this to simple friendship, family and com-
munity relationship, social order. Parents,
businessmen, leaders in all levers of soci-
ety must build their integrity and credibil-
ity on the bedrock of truth. This is how to
build peace. “In truth, peace.”
+ANGEL N. LAGDAMEO, DD
Archbishop of Jaro
President, Catholic Bishops’
Conference of the Philippines
 S T A T E M E N T S

A
s the year 2006 steps hesitantly into
our life and history, I would like to

New Year’s Message

extend this message of hope.
2005 has been a tumultuous year.
Endless inquiries in the senate and in the
house of Congress, rallies and political
protests in all their eerie forms and gro-
tesque shapes, accusations and counter-
accusations, exposition of unheard-of
scandals and variegated scams allegedly
perpetrated by our top leaders, wiretap-
ping, destabilization talks, revolutions, civil
disobedience, what have you, have been
the main course for the days, weeks,
months of the year 2005. All these did not
bother me so much. I know, after all, that
“tayo ay mga pinoy”, that is, we can go
over it. But when the congressional inves-
tigation of the “hello Garci case” started,
I shuddered. I said to myself: this is it, this
is our end. The investigative process
seemed to dramatize that there is nothing
wrong in flaunting with the law provided
we are wise and crafty. It wrongly projects
an image that the law is there to be used as
a shield, a safety net for one’s wrong
doing; that it is easy to tamper with the law
and get away with it by flourishing the
magic wand of one’s knowledge of the law,
manipulating it to one’s selfish advan-
tage, mixing lies and truths together in one
single stroke. I tremble, because no soci-
ety can long stand when its laws that bind
members together in a harmonious and
dynamic whole are used for selfish mo-
tives, with complete disregard for the com-
mon good.
But then, something happened. There
was a sudden relative silence on the issue
in the whole nation and the mass media,
the papers, radio and television veered on
other interests than political squabbles.
The atmosphere of December got clearer
and cleaner, the people became more calm,
composed, serene. What happened? It
was just days before Christmas. People We are best touched by night. Per- calm. I too remember the story of a great
were seen retiring to the silence of their haps it is because it gives one the sure existentialist philosopher of our times. The
homes and places of prayer. They braved reenactments of childhood experiences, a story says that one day he looked at him-
the otherwise dumpy and dark night to time when one sees his early tender years self in the mirror. He could not recognize
attend the Misa de Gallo novena days, as with full clarity and force. It is a time when himself; he was so disgusted at what he
if seeking for the needed respite from the our estimate of the world is not so confi- saw that with his bare fist he shattered the
world. I myself went to these nights of dent, when it contains things and events large mirror that reflected him.
novenas, starting from the remote par- that make us shudder. Sooner or later, the Yes, it is not easy to face oneself. And
ishes up to the Cathedral. In all of these night finds us alone. And man is not yet, it is only in this act of facing and
churches, inspite of the stormy weather prepared to face himself. He is afraid of the confronting one’s own self that man finds
and the black outs, people were seen in dark, he is afraid of himself. This brings us his inner strength, his hidden resources,
throng, praying on their knees. There, I to the story of Adam and Eve who were his power, which man cannot do unless he
concluded: Our nation will survive in spite ashamed of their own naked bodies after is covered by the magical canopy of the
of the rather hopeless situation. We have eating the forbidden fruit. When God called darkness of the night. The story of the
citizens who know how to solve their prob- them up, they were hiding behind the tree, beauty and the beast bears this out
lem: they know well the power of the night more afraid to present themselves naked
and the power of prayer. to God. God has to cloth them to keep them New Year's / p. 21

Volume 40 • Number 1 27
 F R O M T H E I N B O X

Be Happy Today!
W
e convince ourselves that life will be better after we get
married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frus
trated that the kids aren’t old enough and we’ll be more
content when they are.
After that, we’re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal
with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.
We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse
gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to
go on a nice vacation, or when we retire.
The truth is, there’s no better time to be happy than right
now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with
challenges. It’s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be
happy anyway. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment
that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with

©Images/CORBIS
someone special, special enough to spend your time with...and
remember that time waits for no one.
So, stop waiting
* until your house is paid off
* until your kids leave the house
* until you go back to school

A KEEPER
* until you lose ten pounds
* until you gain ten pounds
* until you finish school
* until you get married
* until you have kids
* until you retire
* until summer

I
grew up in the 50s/60s with practical parents. A mother, God
* until spring love her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then
* until winter
* until fall reused it. She was the original recycle queen, before they had
* until you die a name for it... A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed
There is no better time than than buying new ones.
right now to be happy. Hap- Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best
piness is a journey, not a friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in
destination. So—work trousers, tee shirt and a hat and Mom in a house dress, lawn mower
like you don’t need in one hand, and dish-towel in the other. It was the time for fixing
money, love like things. A curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven
you’ve never been door, the hem in a dress. Things we keep.
It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that
hurt, and dance like no
one’s watching. re-fixing, eating, renewing. I wanted just once to be wasteful.
Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant you knew
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net
there’d always be more.
But then my mother died, and on that clear summer’s night,
in the warmth of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of
learning that sometimes there isn’t any more.
Sometimes, what we care about most gets all used up and
goes away...never to return. So... while we have it... it’s best we
love it.... and care for it... and fix it when it’s broken...... and heal
it when it’s sick.
This is true for marriage..... and old cars.... and children with
bad report cards..... and dogs with bad hips.... and aging par-
ents..... and grandparents. We keep them because they are worth
it, because we are worth it. Some things we keep. Like a best friend
©Images/CORBIS

that moved away or a classmate we grew up with.

There are just some things that make life important, like
people we know who are special..... and so, we keep them close!
rowena.dalanon@cbcpworld.net

28 IMPACT • January 2006

 V A N I L L A B Y T E S

Sites on Focus
by DENNIS B. DAYAO

Last December 2005 issue, we have showcased some school website CBCPWorld had
developed. In this January issue of Impact, we are featuring parish websites. For some
reasons, parish websites are used as a means of connecting parishioners with their
pastors and staff through special messages or sermon/homilies. It is also an easy way
for church members to get to know their parish priest and committees, the foundation
of the parish, and learn of their views on ethical and timely issues. Extending and
harnessing the power of the web to futher deliver the good news.
http://www.cbcpworld.com/
christtheking-taytay
On May 15, 1983, the Doicese of Antipolo
founded the Chirst the King Parish on the
small barrio of Muzon, Taytay, Rizal.
Together with the concerted efforts of Fr.
Peter Julian Eymard C. Balatbat and the
parish pastoral council, the reconstruc-
tion of the church is now coming to a
realization.
http://www.rcam.org/spcp
Originally under the stewardship of the
Congregation of the Passion, the St. Paul
of the Cross in Concepcion Dos, Marikina
City was established on April 21, 1975 by
the decree of His Eminence, the late Jaime
Cardinal L. Sin.
In February 2004, the parish was turned-
over to the care and shepherding of the
Diocese of Antipolo with Fr. Ric Eguia as
the parish priest and Fr. Jimmy Padilla as
parochial vicar. Their joined efforts
brought another milestone in the history
of the parish.

http://www.rcam.org/olmbsp

The feast of Our Lady of the Most Blessed

Sacrament is celebrated every 13th of
May. Akin to its origin, St. Peter Julian
Eymard, known as "The Priest of the Eu-
charist" and "The Apostle of the Eucha-
rist" founded the "Congregation of the
Most Blessed Sacrament" at Paris on May
13, 1856.
Under the leadership of Fr. Jade Licuanan,
he continues to lead the community in
achieving the dream of having a new,
beautiful and bigger parish church and in
moving towards being a renewed Chris-
tian community.

http://www.rcam.org/olup
Located at United Parañaque Subdivision
5, Sucat, Parañaque City, the Our Lady of
Unity Parish is still growing since its es-
tablishment on July 1, 1989. As the third
parish priest installed, Fr. Amado V. Gino
is strengthening its parish mission of deep-
ening the faith and encouraging participa-
tion in all sectors of the parish commu-
nity. The parish feastday, which was sub-
sequently transferred, is celebrated on
September 8 in honor of the birth of the
Blessed Virgin Mother - Our Lady of Unity.
http://www.cbcpworld.com/htp
The Holy Trinity Church is a Parish
Church located in Quezon City. Founded
in the early 1970’s, it aims reaching and
influencing the whole community, touch
every sphere of human life and guide
them in their spiritual pilgrimage into the
future that God is calling. Fr. Joseph
Raymund Biliran, the parish priest, goes
to the mission areas in the parish and
touches the hearts of parishioners through
the BEC approach.

Volume 40 • Number 1 29
 N E W S B R I E F S

CAMBODIA
HR groups demand re- Repeal Colonial-Era
lease of jailed activists Sodomy Law
Human rights advo-
cates are pressing the
Cambodian government to
release jailed leading hu-
man rights activists Kem
Sokha and Yeng Virak.
“The arrest of rights ac-
tivists, as well as recent
show trials of opposition
politicians, is a throw-
back to the days when
Hun Sen ran a one-party
state,” said Brad Adams,
HRW Asia Director.
Sokha, Cambodian Cen-
ter for Human Rights
(CCHR) president, and
Virak, Community Legal
Education Center (CLEC)
Director, were detained
on December 31 in con-
nection with handwritten
comments attacking Prime
Minister Hun Sen on a ban-
ner flaunted at an Inter-
national Human Rights
Day celebration recently.
CHINA Kazakhstan opens pipe- THAILAND
line to China
‘No spitting’ campaign
ahead of Olympics Via East Asia Watch, mate of fear— HRW
Xinhuanet has re-
ported that the Beijing
municipal government
will launch a major anti-
spitting and anti-littering
campaign ahead of the
city’s hosting of the
2008 Olympics. For
everybody’s ease,
Beijing will set up trash
cans every 100 meters in
the city’s main avenues
and other public areas
and provide handy sani-
tary bags for people to
spit into on buses, taxis
and other public facili-
ties.
INDIA
The new arrest of four
gay men in Lucknow last
January 4 shows that
India’s colonial-era sod-
omy law continues to
threaten human rights and
encourages the spread of
HIV, Human Rights Watch
said January 11. Nabbed
suspects were charged for
operating a “gay racket”
on the internet, as well as
of engaging in “unnatural”
sex. Scott Long, director
of Human Rights Watch’s
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
and Transgender Rights
Program said: “India’s
government clings to the
criminalization of homo-
sexual conduct, which
only prevents people from
coming forward for HIV/
AIDS testing, information,
and services.”
KAZAKHSTAN
‘Blacklists’ create cli-
Kazakhstan has opened a
new oil pipeline to China.
The 625-mile pipeline de-
signed to carry 140 mil-
lion barrels of oil a year.
Kazakhstan is aiming to
more than double its pro-
duction from 1.3 million
barrels to 3 million bar-
rels a day by 2015. For
China, the new route is a
key step toward secur-
ing adequate foreign en-
ergy supplies for its
booming economy. Out
of China’s total oil con-
sumption last year of 6.7
million barrels a day, al-
most half came from im-
ports, according to fig-
ures from oil company
BP PLC.
TAIWAN
Taiwan develops new
cruise missile
Taiwan has produced
another type of cruise mis-
sile as part of their strat-
egy of active defense.
Three prototypes of a new
cruise missile were devel-
oped with a potential range
of 1000 km, more than
enough to reach targets
along the coast of main-
land China. Dubbed
Hsiung Feng 2E (Brave
Wind), the missile “will be
deployed on mobile land-
based platforms and initial
plans are drawn for the
production of up to 50
missiles before 2010 and
up to 500 missiles after
2010,” Jane’s Defence
Weekly said in an article
published January 11.
Think tank Human
Rights Watch (HRW)
urged the Thai government
to end its use of blacklists
of suspected militants,
“which could lead to arbi-
trary detentions and mis-
treatment of people in cus-
tody.” HRW research re-
vealed that with more than
a thousand deaths since a
new spate of insurgency
began in January 2004,
Thai authorities are in-
creasingly using flawed
blacklists to pressure Mus-
lim villagers to turn them-
selves in to the authori-
ties. HRW also said that
flawed blacklists were
used in the 2003 “war on
drugs” wherein around
2,500 Thais were killed in
“unexplained circum-
stances.”
PAKISTAN
15 killed in gas field
blast
Twelve of around 40
militants attacking a gas
field adjacent the small
town of Pir Koh, in
troubled south-west Paki-
stan were killed in fight-
ing with security forces
on January 12. Baluch
militants have been bat-
tling for decades to fight
over the control of gas
and other natural re-
sources. Government
forces launched its recent
offensive in Baluchistan
after a December 14
rocket assault on a para-
military base when Presi-
dent Pervez Musharraf
was visiting a nearby
town.
SRI LANKA
Rebels attack navy boat,
15 missing
Fifteen sailors were
missing and feared dead
after suspected Tamil Ti-
ger rebels attacked a naval
vessel off Sri Lanka’s east
coast early dawn on Janu-
ary 13. According to re-
ports, the recent incident
comes amid series of at-
tacks against the island’s
government forces by the
suspected leftists who
have warned to continue
their armed struggle un-
less given wide autonomy.

30 IMPACT • January 2006

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